Lipids and Fatty Acids of the American (Crassostrea virginica) and European Flat (Ostrea edulis) Oysters from a Common Habitat, and After One Feeding with Dicrateria inornata or Isochrysis galbana

Abstract

The oysters Crassostrea virginica and Ostrea edulis from a common habitat showed species-oriented fatty acid composition patterns for total lipids and lipid fractions. Attempts to modify these patterns by offering the unicellular algae Dicrateria inornata and Isochrysis galbana as food suggest that the oysters rapidly convert qualitatively or quantitatively unusual fatty acids to these species-oriented compositions, although only in the combination of D. inornata and O. edulis was enough fatty acid taken up to modify the oyster fatty acid composition in an easily detectable way. The unusual C₂₂ nonmethylene-interrupted diunsaturated fatty acid components were not found in the O. edulis used for this study.